Hat ring



- Aug. 26, 1958 M. M. PASCALE ETAL 2,849,108

HAT RING Original Filed Nov. 9. 1954 INVENTORS Marti/1 M. Pasca 2eUnited States Patent HAT RING Martin M. Pascale, Norwalk, and George M.Rickus,

Wilton, Conn., assignors to Hat Corporation of Amerlca, Norwalk, Conn.,a corporation of Delaware Original application November 9, 1954, SerialNo. 467,790. Divided and this application January 20, 1956, Serial No.560,375

4 Claims. (Cl. 206-9) The present invention relates to a novel hat ringfor supporting hats in a hat box or the like container.

Heretofore, hats have been supported by hat rings, the elements of whichwere frictionally held in assembled relation. This had the disadvantagethat when the box was given a sudden jar sufficient to overcome thefrictional grip of the elements, the elements changed their assembledrelation and failed to properly support the hat.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hat ring in whichthe elements thereof are permanently secured together to provide arugged yet simple constructron.

This is accomplished by providing a novel hat ring comprising a stiffflat sheet of material having an opening therein and which is providedwith spaced tabs extending therearound; and an annular band positionedin the opening with the tabs overlying and positively secured to theband, preferably by staples passing through the tabs and band to providea rugged hat ring which can be quickly and accurately secured together.

This application is a division of our application Serial No. 467,790,filed November 9, 1954, now Patent No. 2,749,546, issued June 12, 1956.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thespecification and claims when considered in connection with the drawingsin which:

Figure l is a perspective view of the hat ring of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the hat ring of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, the present invention provides a novel hatring A which is of rugged construction and is adapted to securely holdand support a hat in position in a hat box such as the box shown in theRickus Patent No. 2,540,992.

In contradistinction to prior hat rings in which the elements werefrictionally held together, the present ring, which comprises arelatively rigid, flat sheet of material a having :an oval opening I)therein corresponding to the shape and size of the crown of the hat tobe packed, has the supporting band c disposed in the opening b so as tobe perpendicularly related to the surrounding fiat sheet and permanentlysecured thereto. While the band may be made in various ways, it isherein illustrated as comprising a strip of material, such as lightcardboard, and preferably of a fixed length. The strip has its ends 0overlapped, as shown in Fig. 1 and is adapted to be positioned withinthe opening in the flat sheet so as to project above and below thesheet, the overlapped ends 0 permitting the band to be inserted inopenings b of various sizes to accommodate hats of such sizes. Ifdesired, the band 0 can be provided with an indentation 0 intermediateits side edges, as shown in Fig. 4, to assist in locating the flat sheeta with respect to the band. Though the indentation may be at any desiredlocation,

it is herein illustrated as being approvimately midway between the edgesof the band. The band 0 is secured rigidly to the sheet by having spacedtabs or cars d on the sheet adjacent the opening and projecting upwardlyfrom the sheet to overlie the outer surface of the band. In thepreferred form of the invention, the tabs at are secured to the band bymeans of staples e passing through the tabs and band and securing thesame together. As shown in Fig. 1, it is at present preferred to have atleast one of the tabs located at the point of overlap in the band sothat the staple e not only secures the tab to the band but also securesthe ends of the band together.

The outer periphery of the flat sheet may be shaped to conform with theinterior of the box to receive the hat ring and is herein illustrated asbeing octagonal.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claimsand portions of the improvements may be used Without others.

We claim:

1. A hat ring for supporting a hat in a hatbox to prevent damage of ahat during handling comprising a flat sheet of material having anopening therein and having tabs spacially positioned around saidopening, an annular band positioned in said opening in perpendicularrelation to said sheet with said sheet lying intermediate the width ofsaid band, said tabs overlying and engaging said band intermediate thewidth thereof, and means securing said tabs and said band together toform a sturdy and relatively rugged hat ring.

2. A hat ring for supporting a hat in a hat box to prevent damage of ahat during handling comprising a flat sheet of material having anopening therein and having tabs spacially positioned around saidopening, an annular band positioned perpendicularly in said opening withsaid sheet lying intermediate the Width of said band, said tabsoverlying and engaging said band intermediate the width thereof, andfasteners projecting through said tabs and said band to secure sametogether to form a sturdy and relatively rugged hat ring.

3. A hat ring for supporting a hat in a hat box to prevent damage of thehat during handling comprising a fiat sheet of material having an ovalopening therein and having a plurality of tabs located around andprojecting into said opening, a strip of flexible material having theterminal end portions thereof overlapped to form annular bands ofvarious sizes, said annular band being positioned in said opening insubstantially perpendicular relation to said sheet with the said sheetlying intermediate the width of the band, said tabs being bent tosubstantially right angles to the plane of said flat sheet and overlyingand engaging the outer surface of said band with one of said tabsoverlying the overlapping terminal ends of the said strips, and staplesprojecting through said tabs and said band to secure the tabs and bandtogether to form a sturdy and rugged hat ring.

4. A hat ring for supporting a hat in a hat box to prevent damage of thehat during handling comprising a flat sheet of material having anopening therein and having tabs spacially positioned around saidopening, a strip of flexible material having the terminal end portionsthereof overlapped to form annular bands of various sizes, said annularband being positioned in said opening so that the said sheet liesperpendicular to and intermediate the width of the band and the saidtabs overlying and engaging the outer surface of said band with one ofsaid tabs overlying the overlapping terminal ends of the said strips,and staples projecting through said tabs and said band and saidoverlapped terminal ends to secure the tabs, band and ends together toform a sturdy and rugged hat ring.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS 330,979 House Nov. 24, 1885 1,024,243 BergApr. 23, 1912 1,109,722 Weiss Sept. 8, 1914

